Time-piece incorporating an instantaneously-operating date indicator



May 3, 1960 5. J. KAUFMAN 2,934,886

TIME-PIECE INCORPORATING AN INSTANTANEOUSLY-OPERATING DATE INDICATOR Filed April 6, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR SAMUEL JACK KAUFMAN A'ITOEIYEY y 1960 5. J. KAUFMAN 2,934,336

TIME-PIECE INCORPORATING AN INSTANTANEOUSLY-OPERATING DATE INDICATOR Filed Apnl 6, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 VIII/I/IIIIA Q VII/II VIIIIIIIIIIII/II/I/II/IIIII/IM n I .QHII" ll 2' HIIIIIIIIIIIII G 4 INVENTOR JAMUEL d/ICA KAUFMAN BY y MM ATTORNEY 2,934,886 Patented May 3, 1960 TIME-PIECE IN CORPORATING AN INSTANTANE- OUSLY-OPERATING DATE INDICATOR Samuel Jack Kaufman, New York, N .Y.

Application April 6, 1956, Serial No. 576,681 Claims priority, application Switzerland April 7, 1955 2 Claims. (Cl. 58

My invention has for its object a time-piece incorporating an instantaneously-operating date indicator including a disc carrying the figures corresponding to the days of the month and rigid with a ratchet wheel and a handoperable correcting device.

According to my invention, the case carries a main rocking lever including a projection controlling said ratchet wheel while a cam follower cooperating with a substantially spiral-shaped cam provided with a step and revolving at a speed of one revolution per 24 hours is connected elastically with the main lever which is urged by a return spring into a position producing the sudden progression of the control finger at the moment of the dropping of the cam follower along the cam step.

. Accompanying drawings illustrate by way of example a preferred embodimentof an improved small travelling alarm clock according to my invention. In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the clock, part of which is torn otf. V

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the front section of the clock as seen from the rear in the direction of the arrow AA of Fig. 4.

Fig. 2A is a plan view in full linesof parts shown in phantom in Fig. 2, as seen from the other sideof a part thereof.

Fig. 3 shows the part of the clockwork seen in the direction of the arrow B-B of Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section through line IV-IV of Fig. 3,

In the embodiment illustrated, the case of the small travelling alarm clock includes a cylindrical section enclosing the actual clockwork M (Fig. 4) and a front section constituted by two square centrally recessed bearing plate 2 and casing 3, the plate 2 being secured to the clockwork calibre through screws 42 extending through the perforations 4 in the plate and engaging corresponding perforations 5 in the clockwork plate 6.

0n the central spindle 7 of theclockwork is loosely fitted a wheel 8 adapted to release the alarm and provided with a lateral projection 9, said wheel 8 meshing with the teeth of an intermediate gear 10 the pinion 11 of which controls a toothed wheel 12 at the speed of one revolution per 24 hours. Said toothed wheel 12 is rigid with a spiral shaped-cam 13 provided with a substantially radial step 14(Figs. 2 and 3). An elastic tongue 15 urges axially the alarm releasing wheel 8 against a further wheel 16 which serves for adjusting the time of alarm according to a well known conventional procedure.

The plate 2 carries a ratchet wheel 17 coaxially rigid with a disc 18 carrying a scale of days of the month, said days appearing in succession through a gate 19 formed in the dial 20. The system including the ratchet wheel 17 and the disc 18 is freely revoluble round a socket 50 coaxially rigid with the wheel 16 adjusting the alarm. Said sleeve 50 surrounds the hour pipe 21 through which extends the centre spindle 7 of the clockwork. The cannon wheel and the means for securing the hour and minute hands have not been illustrated in Fig. 4 since they form no part of the invention. A catch 22 subjected to the action of a spring 23 is fitted on the outer surface of the square plate 2 in order to prevent any rearward mo tion of the ratchet wheel 17.

A main arcuate rocking lever L is fitted on a pivot 24 secured to the plate 2 and to the clockwork plate 6. Said main lever is provided near its pivot 24 with a bent section 25 extending radially and ending with a fork 26 between the arms of which is held a radial projection 27 carried by a control spindle 28 (Figs. 3 and 4), extending longitudinally through the clockwork and provided on the outside of the case of the clock with a handoperable correcting knob 29. The end of the main lever L which is the further from the pivot 24 carries a lateral control projection 30 extending through an opening 31 in the plate 2 and engaging the ratchet wheel 17 rigid with the day-scale carrying disc. Said projection 30 forms part of a rocking member 32 secured to a pivot 33 rigid with the lever L. Said rocking member 32 carries also a tenon 34 to which is booked the movable end of a return spring 35 (Fig. 2), the other stationary end of which is secured to the pin 36 on the plate 2. The lever L is'provided with an elastic tongue 37 secured to it by a screw 38 and bearing constantly against an auxiliary lever 39. Said auxiliary lever39 is carried by the same pivot 24 as the main lever and carries a pin 40 engaging a short transverse opening 41in the main lever so as to limit the angular relative shifting between the two levers L and 39. This auxiliary lever 39 is in contact through its outer tapering end with the cam 13 against which it is urged by the elastic tongue 37.

During each period, of 24 hours, the cam 13 rotates by onerevolution in thedirection of the arrow F1 and through the agency of. the auxiliary lever 39 it urges the two levers L and 39 together in the direction of the arrow F2 round the pivot 24.

The control projection 30 is thusshifted in the direction, of the arrow F3 beyond the pitch of the ratchet wheelteeth when the outer end of the step 14 on the cam 13registers with the tapering end of the auxiliary lever 39. As soon as said tapering end drops along said step 14, the lever L is urged inwardly by thespring 35 and the control projection 30 engages the interval between the two following teeth of the ratchet wheel 17 and it then urges along with it suddenly said ratchet wheel 17 through one tooth interval in the direction of the arrow F4. This provides for the instantaneous substitution in the gate 19 of the next day for that appearing up to them.

In order to correct the day of the month at the end of months which have less than 31 days, the disc scale being subdivided into thirty one divisions, the operator should turn the correcting knob 29 in a direction such that the radial projection 27 rigid with said knob may act on the fork 26' and rock the main lever L in the direction of the arrow F3 so that the control projection 30 may register with the interval between the two following teeth in the ratchet wheel 17. He then turns the knob 29 in the opposite direction so as to make the main lever rock in the direction of the arrow F4 and to provide for a positive progression by one scale division of the disc 18 even if at the beginning of said operation, the auxiliary lever 39 is in contact with a part of the cam 13 which is more or less far from the step 14. In such a case, the shifting of the main lever in the direction of the arrow F4 as provided by the correcting device 29, 27, 26 produces a bending of the elastic tongue 37, the amplitude of which depends on the angular location of the cam 13. The correcting device may thus act efiiciently on the day-scale carrying disc 18, whatever may be the angular setting of the cam 13 at the moment considered. Of course, if the operator provides for such a correction only a short time after midnight, i.e. largely before the striking of the alarm, it is 'suficient for him to turn the knob in the desired direction so as to produce a rocking of the main lever L through a small angle in the direction of the arrow F3 and then to release said knob. The passage of one day to the next in the dial gate is obtained through a subsequent rotation of the main lever L in the direction of the arrow F4 as obtained automatically in such a case by the return spring 35.

What I claim is:

1. In a time-piece including a movement, a case enclosing same and including an apertured dial, the provision of a date indicator comprising a disc carrying a calendar scale revolubly mounted underneath the aperture in the dial, a ratchet wheel coaxially rigid with-said disc, a main arcuate rocking lever pivotally secured to a point rigid with the case on the outside of the said ratchet wheel, a snail cam provided with a substantially radial step, revolubly secured to a stationary point located between the main lever and the center of the ratchet wheel and the outer surface of which faces a point of the main lever said cam revolving in the plane of the latter, a rocking catch pivotally secured to the free end of the main lever and adapted to engage the ratchet wheel, a return spring connecting said pivoting catch with a stationary point of the time-piece to urge the latter towards the ratchet wheel, an elastic tongue one end of which is secured to the lever, an auxiliary lever pivotally secured to the same pivot as the main lever and the free end of which extends between the cam and the main lever, means limiting the relative angular movement between the two levers within a predetermined angular setting and means controlled by the clockwork to make the cam revolve once in 24 hours and en age gradually the auxiliary lever to urge the latter into contact with themain lever and subsequently release sarne upon engagement of the auxiliary lever with the step of the cam surface to provide for the elastic inward return movement of the main lever into a position in which the catch on the lever shifts the ratchet wheel by one tooth interval. 7

2. In a time-piece including a movement, a case enclosing same and including an apertured dial, the provision of a date indicator comprising a disc carrying a calendar scale revolubly mounted underneath the aperture in the dial, a ratchet wheel coaxially rigid with said disc, a main arcuate rocking two-arm lever pivotally secured to a point rigid with the case on the outside of said ratchet Wheel, a snail cam provided with a substantially radial step, revolubly secured to a stationary point located between the main lever and the center of the ratchet wheel and the outer surface of which faces a point of the main lever said cam revolving in the plane of the latter, a bent forked section carried by the outer end of the smaller arm of the lever, a hand operable control spindle projecting outside the case and perpendicular to the plane of the dial, a radial projection rigid with said spindle, a catch pivotally secured to the free end of the longer arm of the lever and adapted to engage the ratchet wheel, a return spring connecting said pivoting catch with a stationary point of the time-piece to urge the latter towards the ratchet wheel, an elastic tongue one end of which is secured to the main lever, an auxiliary lever pivotally secured to the same pivot as the main lever and the free end and of which extends between the cam and the main lever, means limiting the relative angular movement between the two levers within a predetermined angular setting and means controlled by the clockwork to make the cam revolve once in 24 hours and engage gradually the auxiliary lever to urge the latter into contact with the main lever and subsequently release same upon engagement of the auxiliary lever with the step of the cam surface to provide for the elastic inward return movement of the main lever into a position for which the catch on the lever shifts the ratchet wheel by one tooth interval, said forked section on the small arm of the lever engaging the radial projection on the spindle to urge upon rotation of the spindle the lever outwardly and'inwardly for manual actuation of the ratchet wheel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,234,829 Franc July 31, 1917 FOREIGN PATENTS 125,522 Switzerland Apr. 16, 1928 430,109 Great Britain June 13, 1935 

